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Over zealous ewes are put straight into the 'naughty paddock'


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From the Farm by Victoria Ballantyne

We’ve been lambing for a few weeks and things are ticking over, with the usual trials and tribulations. At least the weather, whilst not that warm, is not causing any extra hassle. Persistent bad weather presents the biggest challenge to outdoor lambing.

Jason and I go round our fields three times a day, checking the lambs are being mothered and have a belly full of milk.

Victoria Ballantyne.
Victoria Ballantyne.

Assisting with lambings is often a more simple and less time consuming task than dealing with the fallout from other problems.

In the first week, all the very maternal ewes are convinced they own every lamb and have to be isolated in the ‘naughty paddock’ to prevent the real mothers rejecting their lambs. We also keep an eye out for mastitis.

We have a ear mark system for the ewes. forgivable sin gets a warning notch out of her ear, whilst anything unredeemable gets a cull notch.

If we can, we also try to record a comment against their tag to monitor if they have the same problem twice. It will be interesting to follow these over the years.

We are also calving and are yet to see a cow calve, so hopefully we have got their management right and the smaller calves from the Angus and Stabiliser bulls will continue to arrive unaided.

The cows went out to grass a week before calving started and though they have chewed it off a bit, they are very content.

Having the animals feed themselves, rather than us taking silage to them, saves a huge amount of time (and money) at a busy time of year.

We are using electronic tags in the calves this year, as this will soon become mandatory. It’s better to be ahead of the game and iron out any problems now.

EID has been compulsory in sheep for more than 10 years, but for some reason only known to the powers that be, it was not extended to cattle.

We have 75 yearling cattle on a grass rotation, moving to a new field every three days or so. As the saying goes “Grazed Grass Grows Grass”, and we certainly find that a quick graze at this time of year encourages faster regrowth.

The cold snap at the start of April certainly put the brakes on grass growth and, with temperatures hovering around 8C, it won’t be a vintage year.

However the passing showers are providing a bit of moisture to keep things growing and, as the days lengthen, the grass will start to come away and we will shut a few fields off for silage.

We’ve put up a few signs around the farm roads asking people to keep dogs under control at this time of year.

The good folk of Brora are very responsible and allow us to get on with our business without the added stress of dealing with public access issues, so we think we are very fortunate.

So many horror stories have come out of other parts of the country. Not just dogs worrying livestock, but fly tipping and littering, gates being removed, footpaths overwhelmed, crops trampled and fences cut.

Our lambing helper spotted some lapwing chicks in the ‘naughty paddock’ the other day and was able to find them again and ring them. It will be interesting to see where they end up on their migration, providing they survive the threat from crows and other predators.

Victoria and Jason Ballantyne run Clynelish Farm, Brora.

It is a busy time of year at Clynelish Farm with lambing and calving ongoing at the same time.
It is a busy time of year at Clynelish Farm with lambing and calving ongoing at the same time.

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